Fuel-vaporizer



1. FINAL.

FUEL VAPORIZER.

APPLICATION FILED MAR. H, 1918.

Patented Mar. 9,1920.

- 2 SHEETS--SHEET 2.

H 13 w I \I 14 22 l g? 22 f6 14: v 1 12 H i INl/E/VTOR BY I M 2 TTORNEY UNITED STATES PATENT OFFIG JULIO PIN'AL, OF BROOKLYN, NEW YORK.

FUEL-VAPORIZER.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Mar. 9,1920.

; Application filed March 11, 1918. Serial No. 221,689.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, JULIO PINAL, a citizen of Mexico, residing at Brooklyn, in the county of Kings and State of New York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in v Fuel-Vaporizers, of which the following. is a full, clear, and exact description, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

This invention relates to heaters, and with respect to its more'specific features, to liquid fuel heaters and Vaporizers adapted for use with, among other devices, internal combustion engines.

One of the objects of the invention is the provision of a practical device for extracting heat from the exhaust of an internal combustion engine and utilizing it in the en-.

gine so as to increase the efiiciency of the engine by heating the fuel prior to .explo sion.

Another object of the invention is the provision of a practical and efficient liquid fuel vaporizing device which is simple in construction and easy to clean and repair.

.Other objects will be in part obvious and iii part pointed out hereinafter.

The invention accordingly consists in the features of construction, combinations of elements and arrangement of parts which will be exemplified in the construction hereinafter set forth, and the scope of the application of which will be indicated in the following claims.

In the accompanying drawings forming part of .this specification, wherein similar reference characters refer to similar parts throughout the several views,

Figure 1 is a vertical central section of a vaporizer embodying the invention;

Fig. 2 is a transverse section;

Fig. 3 is an elevation, partly broken away, showing some of the internal structure of the vaporizer;

Fig. 4 is a plan of Fig. 3 partly in section;

Fig. 5 is an elevation, partly sectional, of

" certain chambers or drums, employed in the fuel, having been heated in the vaporizer,

passes to the manifold of the engine through v the pipe 2.

The elements of the vaporizer are ar ranged to provide two independent conduits,

one for the material to be heated, in thepresent embodiment, the liquid fuel, and

one for the material to heat the vaporizer,

so as to provide an annular passageway or pathway 5 between the inner and outer tubular members through which pathway the fuel may flow by gravity. The outer tubular member is closed at one end, as at 6, and in the present embodiment the inner and outer members or conduits are so disposed as to conduct the materials in the present instance, the, fuel and exhaust gases, in generally vertical directions. As illustrated, the liquid fuel from the source of. supply enters the vaporizer through a port 7 in the upper portion of the outer tubular member I and travels dowpwardlv between the walls of the conduits 3 and 4. By terminating the inner end of the inner tubular member 4 short of the bottom 6, the inner end of the inner member 4 will be spaced from the bottom 6 and an end space 8 will be formed in the vaporizer so that the fuel flowing down between the walls may enter this space and communicate with the passageway through the tubular member 4. The numerals 9, indicate le s which support the member 4 in this spa ed relation. At this point it may be noted. that as the fuel. flows through the space 5 it will be heated and'gasified or vaporized so that the resultant gas will acquire some pressure, enabling it to rise through ;the tube 4, the passage through the tube 4 being, in the present instance, augmented by the suction of the engine, as will-be understood. It is desirable that the fuel in the passageway 5'shall be gasified or vaporized by the time it reaches the space 8, and to this end means are provided to cause the flow of the fuel material around the conduit and longitudinally thereof, in what may be termed a helical path. To this end there is fixed to-theouter wall of the inner tubular member 4 a helical rib 10 which operates .as

a battle to direct longitudinal movement adacent thereto in the space 5 and directs the vaporized 0r gasified fuel, and means are provided to confine the flow of these difler ent materials to the different pathways or chambers outlined so that the difierent materials will not mingle with one another, but

I on the contrary, the material flowing in one conduit and its appurtenances, such as the chamber 11, will be excluded from the other conduit andthe'chambers 12, and vice versa. The chambers 11 and 12 are effectively providedby a plurality of drums 13 spaced apart longitudinally fitting in the inner tubular member 4 so as to cut off passageway through member 4 around the drums 13, the interior of the drums being placed in communication with each other by means of conduits or pipes 14, preferably passing across the space between the successive drums, the conduit 14 between one pair of drums being disposed out-0f longitudinal alinement with the conduit 14 between the next adjacent pair of drums. Preferably the relative disposition of these two conduits is diametrically of the tube 4 so that the gases pass across one space 11 at one side of the axis 'of the tube and across the next adjacent space at the other side, or in a zigzag manner,as will be understood. The numeral 15 indicates a pipe or conduit connected with the exhaust pipe of the internal combustion engine and leading into the vaporizer so as to conduct the exhaust gases, in the presentinstance, into the first chamber 11 whence the gases pass to the other chamber 11 by way of pipes 16, heating these spaces and the surrounding parts during their passage. Eventually the exhaust gases.

enter the interior of the space 11 which is adjacent the closed end 6 of the outer tubular member, and from this space they enter a third conduit member 17 which in the present instance extends through the centers of the drums to a point outside the vaporizer, at which point. the exhaust may beifinally discharged into the atmosphere. 2 The pipes 16 provide passageways across the drums 13 and out of communication with the spaces 12, these pipes being arranged alternately on opposite sides of the center of the drums, or in a zigzag manner. The vaporized fuel enters the spaces or drums 12 between successive chambers 11 by way of the conduits or pipes 14, passing through the respective chambers 11.

Within the drums '13 through which the fuel vapor passes, cleaning material, such as steel wvool, may be arranged to take up impurities in the gas, as illustrated. If dein the ends of the pipes 14 to assist in cleaning the gas and lessen deposit of material in these tubes.

Inasmuch as the pathway of the liquid fuel is generally vertical, the plane of the rib 10 is preferably inclined upwardly to sired, wire mesh screens 18 may be disposed the surface of the inner tubular member 4 j so that the tendency of the liquid on the ribs will be to flow, as it were, across the rib toward the inner tubular member rather than toward the outer member 3. Inasmuch as in the present embodiment the inner tubular member with the helical rib affixed thereto is'removable from the outer tubular member, the outer edge of the r1b may not make sufficiently close connection with the inner.

face of the tubular member 3 at all points so as to prevent escape of liquid across said rib. By inclining the rib as. described, any such tendency to escape is mitigatedf The numeral l9 indicates a pipe communicating with the chamber 8 and controlled by a valve 20.

than the pipe 19. In the practical construction of the vaporizer the fuel drums 13 may be coupled together at properly spaced intervals by means of the conduit tubes 14 fuel drums'will be supported by the lower- The numeral 21 indicates any other valve controlled pipe at a lower level most exhaust drum 11 which is secured to Y the end of the tube 17, and the whole may be lowered into the outer tube 3. One of the fuel conduit tubes, as 23, will pass through i the exhaust drum 11, and a nut 24 may be employed to hold the parts in place. In this way the drum structure and its, appurtenances may be removably mounted in the inner tubular member. .The inner tubular member 4 is also removably mounted inthe outer tubular member 3, in the present instance being threaded into a depending flange of an upper head 25 which cooperates with a flange 26 on the outer member 3 and may be bolted thereto by the bolts and wing nuts 27 and 28. It will be observed that the lowermost space 11, is between the lower most drum 13 and the bottom of the tube 4. This lowermost space 11 is occupied by. a

drum 11', shown in section in Fig. 3 which serves to support the assemblage thereabove in the proper depth in the tube 4. By connecting this supporting drum to the central conduit 17, theassemblage may be readily lowered into operative position as one. The

fuel conduit 23 passes through the bottom of the tube 4, and by applying nut 24 the assemblage of drums is held in the tube 4.

Thus by the above described construction are accomplished,-a1nongothers, the objects hereinbefore referred to. v

The vaporizer is. of'such a construction as I to utilize as much of the heat of the exhaust as possible in a relatively small apparatus adapted for. automobiles. The zigzag arrangement of certain of the conduits, together with the helical rib, and the relatively large chambers forming. part of the conduits for the respective materials, promote the eflicient vaporizing and gasification of the liquid fuel.

When coupled to an internal combustion engine the pipe 15 receives the "exhaust from the engine, and the gases issue from the vaporizer through the pipe 17 after having parted with some of their heat. The pipe 1 is connected with the liquid fuel supply and may be provided with a hand valve to regulate the flow of fuel to the vaporizer. The

fuel gases issue from the vaporizer through the pipe 2, which may lead these gases to the air inlet of the .cylinder of the engine at a point close to the portin the cylinder for the entry of air. Under-such circumstances the gasified fuel from the vaporizer may act as a substitute or in addition to the usual atomizing carbureter supplying the same air inlet. Should it be desired to employ the ordinary atomizing form of carbureter, as for instance when the vaporizer is out of order or when liquid fuel accumulat'es in the vaporizer, a pipe may be atin a limiting sense.

Itis also to be understood that the lan-' tached to the pipes 19 or 21, and liquid fuel from the chamber 8 delivered to the usual carbureter.

As many changes could be made in the above construction and many apparently widely different embodiments of this inven tion could be made without departing from the scope-thereof, it is intended that all matter contained in the above description 'or' shown in the accompanying drawings shall be interpreted as illustrative and not guage used in the following claims is intended to cover all of the generic and specific features of the invention herein de:

scribed, and all statements of the scope of the invention Which, asa matter of langua e, might be said to fall therebetween.

aving described my invention, whatI claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent is 1. A vaporizer comprising, in combination, twoxindependent conduits, one for material to be heated, and one for the material to heat the vaporizer, each conduit comprising a series of chambers through which the materials flow, respectively, the chambers of one series alternating with those of the other, one conduit comprising a'helical pathway around the other.

2. A vaporizer comprising, in combination, two independent conduits, one for material to be heated, and one for the material to heat the vaporizer, each conduit comprising a series of chambers through which the materials flow, respectively, thechambers of one series alternating with those of the other, one conduit comprising a helical pathway around the other and aroundsaid series of chambers.

3. A vaporizer comprising, in combina- 4. A vaporizer comprising, in vcombina- V tion, an outer tubular member, an inner tubular member, a plurality of communicating drums in said inner member spaced 1 from each other to provide chambers alter-- nating with the drums, conduitsadapted to establish'communication between the spaces between said drums, a conduit communicating with one of the chambers of said inner tubular member and leading to the exterior "of the vaporizer, and means providing a helical pathway for the'fiow of material be tween the inner and outer tubular members.

5.. A vapor zer comprising, in combmation, an outer tubular member, a tubular member within the outer member, transversely spaced and removable from said outer member, a plurality of communicating drums in said inner member spaced apart longitudinally of said member, conduits passing through said drums adapted to establish communication between the spaces between said drums, and a conduit communicating with one of said spaces and passing through the drums to the-exterior of the vaporizer.

6. A vaporizer comprising, in combination, qan outer tubular member, a tubular member within the outer member, transversely spaced and removable from said outer member, a plurality of communicating.

drums in said inner member spaced apart longitudinally of said member, conduits passing-through'said drums adapted to establish communication between the spaces between said drums, a conduit communieating wlth'one of said spaces and passing through the drums to the exterior of the vaporizer, and a helical rib between the in ner and outer tubular members adaptepl to the spaces between said drums, and a conduit communicating with one of said spaces and passing through the drums to the exterior of the vapor zer.

8. A vaporizer comprising, in combination, an outer tubular member closed at one end, a removable tubular member within and transversely spaced from the outer tubular member, the inner end of said inner member being spaced from the closed end of said outer member providing an end space communicating with the space transversely between the members, ,a helical rib in said transverse space the plane of said rib being inclined to the normal to the wall of inner tubular member, a plurality of removable drums in said inner tubular'member, said drums being spaced apart longitudinally of said member, conduits connecting the interior of adjacent drums across the spaces therebetween, said conduits being arranged zig-zag, other conduits extending through said drums and connecting the spaces between the drums, said last mentioned conduits being arranged zig-zag, and a third conduit leading from the outside of the. vaporizer through the centers of the drums and the spaces therebetween into communication-with the space adjacent the closed end of the outer tubular member.

9. A va orizer comprising, in-combination, a tu ular member, and a series of drums disposed in said tubular member so as to out 01f a-ssage through said member around said nuns, and means adapted to establish communication between the drums.

10. A vaporizer comprising, in combination, a tubular member, and a series of drums disposed in said tubular member so as to cut off passage through said member around said drums, means adapted to establish communicationbetween the drums, and

means adapted to establish communication between the chambers between said drums independently of l'the communication be I tion, a tubular member, and a series of drums disposed in said tubular member so said drums, means adapted to establish communicationbetween the drums, and'means adapted to establish communication between the chambers between said drums independently of the communication between said drums, said first mentioned means comprising tubes extending across the chambers intervening said drums, and said second mentioned means comprising tubes extending across said drums.

12. A vaporizer comprising, in combination, a tubular member and a series of drums disposed in said tubular member so as to cut off passage through said member around said drums, means adapted to establish communication between the. drums, means adapted to establish communication between the chambers between said drums independently of the communication between said drums, said first mentioned means comprising tubes extending across the chambers intervening said drums, said second mentioned means comprising tubes extending across said drums, and a pipe opening into one of said chambers and passing throughsaid drums to a point outside said tubular member.

13. A vaporizer comprising, in combinaas to cut off passage through said member around said drums, means adapted to es-. tablish communication between the drums, an outer tube in which said tubular member is disposed and from which it is laterally spaced, and a helical rib on said inner member in said space, the plane of said rib being inclined to .the normal to said tubular member.

14. A vaporizer comprising, in combina tion, an outer tubular member closed at one end, an inner tubular member removably supported within said outer member. and spaced therefrom laterally and adjacent said end, a plurality of communicating drums fitting said inner member and spaced apart longitudinally thereof, the inner one of said drums opening into said outer member adjacent the closed end of the latter,-and a tube entering said inner member and opening into a space adjacent "one ofsaid drums, said drums having passageways therethrough to establish communication between the spaces intervening the drums.

In testimony whereof I affix my signature, in the presence of two witnesses.

n JULIO PINAL.

Witnesses: 4

J. W. ANDERsoN, C. J. KULBERG. 

